Birthday Weekend Project

Though I could have the “perfect” excuse from Uncle Sam, my past weekend gourmet cooking project went on as planned - in a way.  Thanks to my husband’s 4x birthday.  I did manage to make him a gourmet meal on Sunday as his special pro-birthday gift.  I originally planned to make him a chocolate cheesecake, beside the gourmet meal, instead of a store-bought birthday cake.  Unfortunately (or fortunately), I had to abort that plan due to the fact that a “Hollywood” star might be born to the family.   Who’s that?  Well, let me explain that in more details later.

Weeks ago, I came across a recipe with an amazingly beautiful and intriguing photo of the finished product.  I instantly decided to take it upon myself and make an attempt to make it.  The recipe is called Inside-out Eggplant Parmigiana.  Judging simply by the picture, it could be a one of those very complicated recipes.  However, once my mind is made up for doing something, nothing (or no one) could get in my way.  There was an ingredient I was not familiar with but I know I could substitute it with something I was familiar with.  After all, the exact though to myself was: if I could just present half as beautiful as what’s shown in the photo, I was sure I would have impressed my husband far more than he had ever expected.

The unfamiliar ingredient in the recipe was arugula.  I knew it’s a plant but had no idea what kind of plant that was.  So, I substituted it with spinach.  I tried to look for some cold, fresh mozzarella cheese from a deli section of a grocery store but had no luck.  So, I bought a package from a refrigerator section instead.  I found the biggest biscuit cutter in the house to cut circles out of those square-shaped mozzarella slices.  The cut-out cheese circles matched perfectly with the sliced eggplant circles.  As to the tomato sauce, I have to be honest.  I didn’t make it from scratch even though that's what the recipe asked for originally.  I had a jar of regular tomato sauce.  So, I just dressed it up with a few sprinkle of finely chopped fresh cilantro and onion.  I let it simmer on low heat with a lid on while I was prepping for other things (you do want to make sure the tomato sauce was covered with a lid while cooking on a stove unless you don’t mind red or orange stains all over the stovetop).  The key is: the longer the tomato sauce is cooked, the better it would taste.
  

 

The actual cooking process was honestly not as complicated as I suspected originally.  All I had to do was to follow instructions step-by-step and stack ingredients up one-by-one in the correct order.  However, I did miscalculate on the portion of pancake mixture and ended up making more pancakes than slices of eggplant.  So, instead of making a 3-level eggplant tower with one piece of pancake as the foundation, I made it into a 2-level one only.  I very much wish I could have enough eggplants to top the tower but oh well...next time then.  I named it Eggplant Bungalow instead of Eggplant Tower as you can imagine why.  I have to say though.  The pancake foundation had turned out to be extremely successful.  It looked and tasted exactly like what I had planned for.  The “Bungalow” impressed the hell out of my husband in every possible way: look, smell and taste.

  

Now, back to the story about having a possible “Hollywood” star in the family.  Actually that was me - or lest I have tried.  I went to casting calls for an extra in the upcoming Iron Men 3 last Saturday, which was my husband’s birthday.  One of my girlfriends told me about the opportunity and which was specifically looking for someone who has Chinese descent.  I couldn’t pass up the rare opportunity so I went.  I had to wait 4 long hours for my turn just to submit my application form and glamour shot (which I took it at one of those funny photo booths in the mall because I was so unprepared and went without a photo of myself).  Nevertheless, those 4 long hours I should have used it to make a birthday cheesecake.  In easing my guilt, I bought the birthday boy a 6-inch (smallest) chocolate mousse cheesecake at the nearby Cheesecake Factory at a hefty price, $20.  I can't buy him the biggest one for it could have cost me at least $60.  Though the cheesecake was small, at least he’s the only eating it.  Both Ms. Lola the cat and I are allergic to chocolate. 

I did promise him a homemade cheesecake for our upcoming 6th wedding anniversary.  I mean it’ll be a $60 one.